Three-year-old Alexa Caselii jumps in puddles left by the recent storm at Phoenix Lake in San Anselmo.

Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle

Three-year-old Alexa Caselii jumps in puddles left by the recent...

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Bob Kind and Catie Redel of Petaluma visit Phoenix Lake in San Anselmo, a reservoir that has seen its water level rise with the recent rainfall.

Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle

Bob Kind and Catie Redel of Petaluma visit Phoenix Lake in San...

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Highway 121 near highway 12 was shut down due to flooding of Sonoma Creeek Sunday February 8, 2014 near Sonoma, Calif. Sonoma County received a good portion of the rainfall this weekend. The rain flooded the usual areas but also completely changed the Russian River flows.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Highway 121 near highway 12 was shut down due to flooding of Sonoma...

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A cyclist making his was against the wind going southbound on the Great Highway in San Francisco, Calif. on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014.

Despite the stormy weather, people spend the day at Ocean Beach on February 9, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. The Bay Area faces flood warnings during the recent storm that is soaking parts of the drought-stricken state.

Small waves were created by the flooding Sonoma Creek which regularly floods highway 121 near Sonoma, Calif Sunday February 9, 2014. Sonoma County received a good portion of the rainfall this weekend. The rain flooded the usual areas but also completely changed the Russian River flows.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Small waves were created by the flooding Sonoma Creek which...

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A country road off highway 121 was completely underwater Sunday February 9, 2014 near Sonoma, Calif. Sonoma County received a good portion of the rainfall this weekend. The rain flooded the usual areas but also completely changed the Russian River flows.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

A country road off highway 121 was completely underwater Sunday...

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A fish ladder on the Russian River in Healdsburg, Calif was completely covered by the new flows Sunday February 9, 2014. Sonoma County received a good portion of the rainfall this weekend. The rain flooded the usual areas but also completely changed the Russian River flows.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

A fish ladder on the Russian River in Healdsburg, Calif was...

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The Russian River in Healdsburg, Calif. even inundated some low lying areas that were bone dry last week Sunday February 9, 2014. Sonoma County received a good portion of the rainfall this weekend. The rain flooded the usual areas but also completely changed the Russian River flows.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

The Russian River in Healdsburg, Calif. even inundated some low...

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Near the Healdsburg Memorial Beach, residents watched the swollen Russian River Sunday February 9, 2014 in Healdsburg, Calif. Sonoma County received a good portion of the rainfall this weekend. The rain flooded the usual areas but also completely changed the Russian River flows.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Near the Healdsburg Memorial Beach, residents watched the swollen...

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Nicole Infiesta (left) and David Chambers (right) brave the wet weather to take their dog, Bucket, for a walk at Ocean Beach on February 9, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. The pair drove from the Mission District in the rain to take their nearly 10-year-old dog out for a good time.

Shoppers carry umbrellas in the rain near the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014. The Bay Area is getting doused this weekend in one of the biggest storms in over a year.

Shoppers carry umbrellas in the rain near the Embarcadero Center in...

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A woman stays dry under an umbrella at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014. The Bay Area is getting doused this weekend in one of the biggest storms in over a year.

Arturo Duarte and his 15-month-old son, Kai, explore a puddle during one of Kai's first experiences in the rain, in front of the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco Calif. on Feb. 8, 2014.

Photo: Deborah Svoboda, The Chronicle

Arturo Duarte and his 15-month-old son, Kai, explore a puddle...

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Pedestrians cross California Street the rain in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014. The Bay Area is getting doused this weekend in one of the biggest storms in over a year.

Last month, the small Mendocino County city of Willits faced a real possibility of running out of water. The city's two reservoirs were approaching record low levels and the city manager estimated that just three months of drinking water remained.

Enter this weekend's storm. The powerful mass of moist, tropical air from the Pacific Ocean known as a Pineapple Express delivered more rain than Northern California had seen in a year and gave some communities a needed boost to drought-stricken supplies.

Most of the celebrating went on north of the Golden Gate. In Marin County, local reservoirs that were half full, on average, surged to nearly two-thirds full as Mount Tamalpais topped the Bay Area's rainfall totals with an impressive 20.9 inches of rain.

Farther north, Lake Mendocino, which serves much of Sonoma and Mendocino counties, rose 3 feet to 40 percent of capacity.

Willits pipe

Few places, however, needed the rain as much as Willits, which got an additional dose of good news Monday when the California Department of Public Health said the city would receive $250,000 to install an emergency water pipe to tap ground water.

"We've been able to take a breath," Willits City Manager Adrienne Moore said.

But while the rain was good, and buys time for Willits and its depleted reservoirs, the city and its water supplies remain well short of where they normally are this time of year. The same goes for nearly every community in Northern California.

"The bottom line is that this storm is not going to end California's drought," said Nancy Vogel, spokeswoman for the state Department of Water Resources. "Statewide, we still have a long way to go to catch up."

The 7.6 inches of rain that fell outside Willits between Thursday and Sunday, according to a nearby National Weather Service station, upped the area's rainfall total for the season to 12.6 inches - compared with the 32 inches that normally falls between July 1 and Sunday.

The numbers are similarly low elsewhere, according to weather service data. San Francisco, which saw about 2.7 inches of rain over the weekend, has received 5.6 inches for the season, compared with the 15.1 inches it normally receives.

San Jose has seen 2.5 inches of the 9 inches it normally receives, while Santa Rosa has gotten 9.2 inches of the 23.1 inches it normally gets.

Meanwhile, the rainy season is more than half over, and the chances of catching up are low.

Weather service forecaster Steve Anderson said dry conditions will return to the Bay Area this week. There's a small chance of showers Wednesday - 10 to 20 percent - but beyond that the skies will be mostly sunny and clear.

The high pressure system that has squatted off the West Coast since the fall, blocking storms from hitting Northern California, is rebuilding after weakening last week, Anderson said.

"Any storm that is riding over that high pressure will just graze us and move to the north," he said.

In the Sierra, the snowpack that fills many of the state's reservoirs got a bump with the weekend's storm but still remains slight. Overall, the snowpack measured 28 percent of normal Monday.

Hetch Hetchy

The snowpack that serves San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy reservoir, meanwhile, increased from 10 percent to 22 percent of normal over the weekend, according to city officials. Storage for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which serves 2.6 million households and businesses in the Bay Area, stands at 69 percent of capacity.

"Our snowpack and rainfall levels definitely show that we aren't out of the woods yet," said PUC spokesman Tyrone Jue in an e-mail.

Despite the weekend weather, state officials said Monday that they still planned to cut off water deliveries this year from the State Water Project, a system that serves two-thirds of California's population using reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants and pumping plants. Water is typically sent to 29 suppliers throughout the state, including four in the Bay Area.

The dire situation prompted an announcement last week that President Obama will visit the Central Valley on Friday to discuss how the federal government will help with the drought.